Concert Promoters Corner: The Pro's and Con's To Organizing An All Ages Show

Although it's not something most concert promoters think about, choosing
whether or not you will have an all ages show can have a big impact on
your night. Here's why...

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All Ages Show Pro's:

No Drunken Fools

I've found that dealing with out of control drunks can be a pretty big hassle.

In fact, some of my worst promotion experiences actually has to do with the bands themselves being the rowdy drunks, not the audience!

Having
an All Ages show gives the concert promoters the benefit of being able
to tell people they are not allowed to brink such substances into your
venue. If you are lacking in bouncers (mentioned below), then you will
find that this can really help to keep your show under control.

I found that any shows where there is trouble, there is always booze involved.

You'll only wish they were as passive as this...

Some trouble that I had during one specific All Ages show, was that 1
of the bands had snuck in some booze and didn't start drinking it until
on they were on stage (Or didn't reveal it).

Needless to say, they aren't welcome at any shows I put on now.

So
the All ages show gives concert promoters the right to ask people to
put it away. Keep in mind that if you don't have a liquor license and
the inspector comes by, he will likely shut down the show if he spots
anyone drinking at your venue.

And if the people drink outside in
the parking lot, you can expect the cops to come and ask you to tell
your audience not to drink outside of the venue.

They want you to keep the booze in the venue, while the liquor inspector wants it outside the venue (unless you have a license).

Younger Audience (Is This Your Market?)

If your music is geared more towards people that are under the legal
drinking age, then you can see how the younger audience reach is a
massive benefit for concert promoters.

You wouldn't really expect
to see a 19+ Jonas' Brothers concert bring put on, would you? (I'm
hoping you wouldn't expect to be seeing any of their concerts, but that is besides the point.) Anyone trying to reach their target audience is putting on all ages shows.

Seeing one of these concerts may be hazardous to the clarity of your sexual orientation.

Just keep in mind that the all ages shows will open you up to a different market. This can be a good thing (or a bad one).

No Liquor License Required!

As I mentioned above, you need a liquor license to sell liquor at
your venue. So not having some sort of license to serve liquor
(different than a license to sell liquor) could cause some trouble for
your show.

Now if someone brings drinks into a concert promoters
all ages show, that might now be as big of a problem. There's more to it
than just "don't sell booze", you need to be able to keep the crowd
under control as well.

You need to be the bad guy!

Keep your security decent, and keep the booze out of the hands of the youngsters and "of-age" people alike.

To Bounce, Or Not To Bounce?

Any venue that has more than 50 people attending is going to need some
sort of security. Unless the types of bands that are playing is totally
sissy stuff (anything above surf-rock will need it!)

Unless you are already a really large guy, you want to find someone who looks a lot like this for your crowd control:

Contrary to popular belief, the outfit is the most important feature of this fellow.

But seriously... I'm not a particularly large guy, and when I'm the
biggest "Authority" at a venue, it simply isn't enough to say "I rented
this place!" to stop the people making trouble.

Seeing as though
they've decided to make trouble, it's likely they don't really care
whether you have the legal obligation to the venue.

They just want to have their good time at someone else's expense.

So
to counteract it, make sure you find the biggest guy you know, and
stand him at the front of the crowd with a "Security" t-shirt on. You
are sure to find that 90% of the trouble you previously would have
encountered at the venue has now disappeared.

Smart huh?

And perhaps you might want to arm him with some pepper spray for worst case scenarios...just in case...